2015 Homicides Up In The County, Down In The City, Following A Trend
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Homicides were down in the City of Pittsburgh in 2015, but up in the suburbs of Allegheny County, which is part of a continuing trend with fatal shootings on the rise in the Mon Valley.
Confronting a burglar in his McKeesport home Wednesday night, 37-year-old Lavar Freeman took a fatal bullet to the chest, becoming Allegheny County's final and 114th homicide victim in 2015.
Once again this past year, homicides in suburban Allegheny County kept pace with the City of Pittsburgh with 57 homicides each.
And again this year, the economically struggling towns of the Mon Valley saw an uptick in gunplay and violence. There were 10 homicides in McKeesport alone, 4 apiece in Clairton and East Pittsburgh, and 2 in both West Mifflin and Rankin.
A lack of jobs, turf battles over drugs and the availability of illegal guns has been a recipe for homicide in McKeesport and throughout the Mon Valley.
"I think it's getting worse," longtime McKeesport resident James Allen said. "Drugs is everywhere, I think that's the biggest motivation."
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In McKeesport, warring has intensified between rival drug gangs and the violence shows no signs of abating.
Longtime residents like Allen say the city's continuing economic woes offer few alternatives to its young people.
"No jobs. Everything closing up, nothing opening up," Allen said. "If you see McKeesport, you see nothing but gas stations and dollar stores."
In contrast, the City of Pittsburgh is undergoing an economic resurgence and there, the number of homicides was down from 71 in 2014.
But city officials say the number is still too high and are hoping new policing strategies, like cops walking a beat, will lead to better community relations and a reduction in the murder rate.
As in the county, the majority of the victims in Pittsburgh were black males between the ages of 17 and 34, and solutions to the problems are hard to come by.
In McKeesport, residents have just grown weary of the continuing violence.
"Wish it would stop," one resident said.
